With College Football’s Landscape Shifting, Oklahoma State Needs to Ensure Its Spot at the Table

STILLWATER — When Texas and Oklahoma bolted for the SEC, it set off dominoes that pushed the Big 12 to the brink and destroyed the Pac-12 as a power conference.

Oklahoma State athletic director Chad Weiberg was suddenly responsible for ensuring the Cowboys would survive the chaos to come only three weeks into his new job.

“All I had then … was a confidence that because of the success that we’ve had, that we’re going to be fine,” Weiberg said in an interview in 2024. “I just knew, I just had a confidence level that Oklahoma State is going to be in a good position for whatever all this movement is. … And I often refer to it as you know, this cutline right and there has been this talk of a cutline and college football for years and years and years.”

Many of the sport’s decision-makers throughout the country believe a seismic change could, and might even be likely to, still come to college football in the future.

So does Weiberg still feel good about Oklahoma State’s place in the college football landscape following an ongoing 11-game losing streak to FBS teams, which cost Mike Gundy his job on Tuesday?

“I believe that we are in a window of time here that is critical,” Weiberg said on Tuesday. “Television contracts for conferences will be coming up in the next five years, and that has typically been the trigger of the conference realignment.”

This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Weiberg warned of a critical juncture approaching back in January when he wrote a letter to OSU fans ahead of ticket price increases. In remarks to reporters at the same time, the AD referenced programs that failed to seize previous opportunities and found themselves playing catch-up for decades.

“And so, I think we are in a critical period,” Weiberg said on Tuesday. “I think winning is a big part of setting yourself up for success in whatever happens, so it is important that we get back to the standard of Cowboy football. It’s important that we make a really good decision on the hire, and it’s important that we get behind him, support him at a level that you will be successful with this program.”

According to reporting by CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello, media rights contracts for the Big Ten and the Big 12 expire in 2030 and 2031, respectively. The SEC and ACC deals run through 2034 and 2037, respectively, while the College Football Playoff and the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament sit sandwiched between the conference stuff, with both deals set to expire in 2032.

Whatever changes, if any, happen with regard to the format of college football’s postseason, Weiberg made it clear that he still expects that to be the ultimate goal for the Cowboys.

“We know winning the Big 12 Championship, going to the College Football Playoff and competing for championships are realistic goals,” Weiberg said. “They remain attainable goals, but the stakes are high and competition is intense. It will be critically important for the OSU family to unite behind the next leader of Cowboy football.”

In the summer of 2024, Weiberg credited Gundy’s success with ensuring Oklahoma State sat high above the “cutline.”

But as Weiberg said on Tuesday, Oklahoma State’s football program isn’t in the 1980s anymore. Expectations are higher, in large part, because of Gundy, who lost his job on a Tuesday in September due to the very same expectations he helped create.

“These are new times,” Weiberg said. “I don’t know if they’re unprecedented times. … You all are aware we’re not the first school that has a coaching opening this season. So, yes, 10 or 15 years ago, this would have been highly unusual. But we’re not playing under the rules that we had 10 or 15 years ago, so we have to adjust.”